The 14 Most Important Topics for 2014 As Voted by You

Well, it’s time again to round up the most important and popular topics moving into next year. But instead of me telling you what those important topics are, you told me.

As with last year, Big Thinkers, you voted with your Likes and Shares. Just like an A/B test, the data helps us all figure out what really matters. As I’ve said many times before, “No matter how smart you are, the market is always smarter.”

The methodology hasn’t changed. Each of these posts was published during the last year and shared at least 50% more often than average by you and the readers of this blog over the course of the last 12 months.

There’s an interesting shift this year in the most common keywords among these posts. Whereas last year, “mobile,” e-commerce,” and “trends” represented the top terms, this year the list has broadened, while “trends” vanished altogether. Lots of focus on the practical, it seems. Here’s what we’ve got:

• Marketing
• E-commerce
• Travel Tuesday
• Mobile

Clearly, e-commerce and mobile remain popular topics, but marketing topics generally also became quite popular. And, as I mentioned the other day, my Travel Tuesday series blew up huge, a sure sign of the influence digital now exerts on that industry.

Now, without further ado, here’s the list:

1. My annual selection of The 2013 Marketing and E-commerce All-Stars: The 9 Best E-commerce and Online Marketing Blogs roared into the first position, shared more than 500% more often than the average post here on the blog.
2. I told you the Travel Tuesday series was big. 4 Reasons Why Google Metasearch in Maps Matters was shared more than 3.5 times as often as the typical post from this year.
3. Another very popular topic was my look at The 4 Laws to Working Smarter in Digital Marketing
4. Continuing the theme, The Zen of Digital Marketing Strategy, took 4th place
5. You also liked The One Thing You Don’t Want to Change in 2013. Interestingly, yesterday I shared why you might want to change a little bit in 2014.
6. Our first “pure” mobile post, A Shocking Fact About Mobile Commerce, cruises into 6th place.
7. Another Travel Tuesday entry, Warning: Mobile Drives Booking Costs Up and 4 Ways to Prevent It, also looks at mobile.
8. Continuing the trend, What Mobile Will Do to Your Sales in 2013 brings another mobile player to the table.
9. Though not obvious from the title, Kiss Your Current Conversion Rate Goodbye, is another mobile winner.
10. We’ve got a streak going here. My question, Are Mary Meeker’s Projections for Mobile Growth Dead Wrong? is the fifth straight mobile post to make this list. Sensing a theme developing?
11. Another e-commerce entry, this time explaining why E-commerce Still Has Lots of Room to Grow.
12. My Biznology post 3 Key Tips for Search Campaigns that Convert was very popular.
13. Remember the power outage at this year’s Super Bowl? My look at Agile Marketing in Real-Time: Oreo Shows How It’s Done During the SuperBowl might bring back some memories.
14. And, finally, this snarky title, How to Get in Your Customers’ Pants… Pocket is another winning mobile entry.

If you’re looking for more, here are a few other posts that just missed the cut:

• Google’s SEO Shutdown?
• Want More Web Business Now That It’s All E-commerce? 6 Questions You Must Get Right
• A Digital Marketer’s New Year’s Resolutions
• Can Facebook Deliver Sales?
• Google’s Big Secret: What Search Engine Marketing Will Look Like Next Year | Biznology
• Sacrifice

There you have it, Big Thinkers. A look at the hot topics you preferred most last year. Enjoy the whole list. And look forward to plenty more coverage of marketing, e-commerce, travel marketing, and mobile in 2014.

If you’re interested in learning more about the future of e-commerce and marketing via the social, local, mobile web, register to receive a special report I’ve produced in conjunction with hotel marketing firm Vizergy, “Digital Hotel Marketing in a Multiscreen World.” While it’s targeted specifically at hotel and resort marketers, the lessons apply to just about any business. You can get your free copy of the report here.

You might also enjoy some of our past coverage of the social, local, mobile web and what it means for your business, including:

1. The Secrets Behind “It’s All E-commerce” for 2014
2. The Zen of Digital Marketing Strategy
3. 7 Steps to E-Commerce Heaven
4. Today and Tomorrow: Mobile and The Changing Customer Journey
5. Warning: Mobile Drives Booking Costs Up and 4 Ways to Prevent It (Travel Tuesday)
6. Mobile Makes E-commerce Even More “Frictionless”
7. 3 Key Trends for 2013